Ministry
For 15 years, Russ and Heidi, along with their children, Joel, Joshua, Joyanne and Jocelyn planted seeds and bore fruit at San Esteban Anglican Church, in the community of Villa Alemana, Chile. After spending time in Pasadena, California for educational ministry and training, they have returned to Chile where they have been called to pastor a new congregation in Calera de Tango. Heidi will continue teaching at Santiago Christian Academy and will also assist Russ in ministry to married couples and in women’s outreach in the new church.

Call
Russ and Heidi were both raised in the Church and gave their lives to Christ at a very young age. Even as a child, Russ had an interest in missions, and Heidi heard her calling during her college years after she "gave Jesus the lordship of (her) future". Heidi's mother wasn't surprised to hear that she wanted to be a missionary, however. Before Heidi was even born, her mother had dedicated her in service to the Lord, much like Hannah's prayer in 1 Samuel 1:27! Heidi has been a SAMS missionary since 1980, and she met Russ only a few years after she began missionary work when she was training SAMS missionaries (Russ was a SAMS candidate at the time). They married and six months later left for Chile. They've now been working there together as a couple since 1986!

Prayer Challenges
The Smiths are now back in Chile after a brief home ministry assignment and on March 15, Russ was installed as pastor of the newly formed Juan Bautista Anglican Church of Calera de Tango. Please pray with them for God to provide just the right house in the area for them to live in. Also pray for the evangelistic outreach of the church, and for the thousands of people in Chile whose lives were affected by the massive earthquake on Feb. 27, thanking God for His protection of them and all of those in the Anglican Church and praying God would use the Body of Christ to reach out to those in such great need.